One Man Seeks Freedom, and Another Adjusts to It

A North Carolina man exonerated through DNA testing in 2007 spoke yesterday on the steps of a Raleigh courthouse in support of another man seeking his freedom. He then sat down with reporters and spoke about the challenges he has faced in adjusting to life after exoneration.

Dwayne Dail served 18 years in North Carolina prisons for a rape he didn’t commit before DNA testing obtained by the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence proved him innocent. He was freed in 2007, and said yesterday that the adjustment has been difficult.

"The hardest part is to just put one foot in front of the other and move in the free world as a free man," he said. "It's difficult."

Watch video of Dail at the rally

. (WRAL)

Dail was in Raleigh yesterday to support efforts on behalf of Greg Taylor, who has served more than 16 years in North Carolina prisons for a murder he says he didn’t commit. The North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission found unanimously this month that evidence in Taylor’s case points to his innocence. A judge will now review the commission’s findings.

 

The Charlotte Observer

published a profile

of Taylor on Saturday, and he said he’s beginning to prepare himself for release.

He's not sure how to begin again. He is almost the age his parents were when he went into prison.

"I don't know what 47 is, I only know what 31 is," Taylor said. "I think I want to go home and be invisible for a while."